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Digital transformation is not a question of if, but how fast you can achieve it said Bernd Leukert, head of products and innovation at SAP and member of the executive board, at the Sapphire Now annual conference in Orlando, USA. With that in mind the company unveiled the expanded SAP Leonardo digital innovation system.

The expanded SAP Leonardo system brings together software capabilities in machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, analytics and blockchain on SAP Cloud Platform together with SAP experience, deep process and industry knowledge, and advanced design thinking methodology.

With dozens of industry awards and recognitions, each of these areas of SAP’s portfolio can add tremendous value for our customers on their digital journey — but the real power is when they all work together.

“To run the business in the digital era, you must get to the cloud,” said Leukert, during his keynote address, adding that businesses have to automate as many processes as possible to succeed. “Business processes must be autonomous and to do this you must be in the cloud,” he said adding that the SAP HANA platform provided the technology to do this.

Bernd Leukert

The autonomous processes, when integrated with IoT sensors, generates a flood of data – that customers need to analyse and process effectively to reinvent and transform an organisation. The Leonardo system allows SAP customers to do this.

Leukert demonstrated a working example of such a solution, using a power tool renting vendor.

A traditional tool shop would have a catalogue of tools that customers can rent at a fixed price for a fixed period of time. Such a company would also have a service schedule for its tools to keep it in optimum working order. The service would take place regardless of how often the tool is used.

When such tools are used in conjunction with IoT sensors, the tool company is able to monitor the wear and tear on this tool and service it accordingly – delaying servicing the tool if it is used less or increasing the frequency of the servicing if it has been under intense use. This increases the life of the tool and also saves money.

The sensors can also be used to implement an innovative pricing system for the tool’s rental, using a customised SAP’s Hybris billing application, by being able to charge the customer for how much time the tool was in use when it was rented out.

SAP Leonardo will offer customers either an industry-focused approach called industry accelerators, aligned to specific use cases, with fixed prices and timelines, or a flexible approach that allows customers to build what they require for any industry or business need. SAP also is integrating SAP Leonardo capabilities with its existing applications to make them more powerful and intelligent, and will offer services for developers and partners to build their own custom applications supported by a network of SAP Leonardo Centers with initial locations in New York, Paris, São Leopoldo and Bangalore.

Leukert added that SAP was able to develop solutions for customers – from vision to a tech blueprint – within a period of 10 to 12 weeks.

New developments across the SAP Leonardo innovation portfolio include the SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation; a set of new machine learning–enabled applications for corporate functions ranging from invoicing to customer service and retention; and an SAP Cloud Platform Blockchain service for building application extensions and new solutions using distributed ledger technology.

SAP also launched its new digital twin solution and new services as part of its push to optimize asset management with the IoT. To build the ecosystem for SAP Leonardo, SAP also announced a new collaboration with Deloitte to deliver offerings that can accelerate innovation, bolster the core and unlock exponential value. Offerings will include digital and intelligent solutions for finance, supply chain and software-as-a-service for industry.

SAP also reiterated its pledge to listen to its customers and act on their biggest concerns with two new initiatives. The SAP Cloud Trust Center and a new digital tool called the SAP Transformation Navigator were rolled out to deliver greater transparency and clearer product guidance for customers.

(This journalist was a guest of SAP’s to Sapphire Now in Orlando, Florida)

Author

Saunthra has worked for various IT publications in Malaysia and Australia that includes Computerworld Malaysia, PC Magazine Malaysia and Windows 2000 Magazine Australia before moving into the field of web development and consulting.
Much of her web development work was in Sydney, Australia for organisations such as Optus, the University of New South Wales and the Attorney General's Department of NSW.
She started working as an editor for EITN in 2016. In addition to that, she also freelances as a website content administrator and as an IT consultant for various organisations.